A Father's Love

Chapter 41

   April came and went, and May was upon them, which meant summer vacation was right around the corner. Luke was glad Shelby would finish first grade and move on to second grade. In fact, he couldn't believe he would soon have a second-grader. Just a year ago, she was just a kindergartener. Where did the time go, and why did it move so fast? At least one of his charges would move on, anyway. Though Shelby was doing really well in school, Jess, not so much. It was odd, though. The kid put effort into helping his little cousin with school but couldn't care less of his own schooling. Luke tried to talk with Jess about the fact he was facing the possibility of having to repeat the eleventh grade over again, but Jess really seemed to not care. So with much thought and consideration as possible, Luke decided to get some help from the only person he knew had a better chance than he could: Rory.

Since he needed to get rid of a batch of brownies, he destroyed by pouring in too much cocoa powder; he figured the Gilmores would eat them since it would be a waste of food, anyway. Shelby tried asking for a piece on their way there, but Luke denied her request, trying to steel himself from giving in to her puppy dog look. Besides, even though the kid loved sweets, at least Shelby had a limit and he knew the amount of cocoa would be too much for her. Lorelai ended up letting her try some while he was in, talking with Rory about tutoring Jess.

On the way out, Shelby told her dad, "I promise to lis-ten, nex' time, Dad."

Luke chuckled. "Okay," he replied and grabbed onto her head once they were down the front steps.

Lorelai ended up following them, calling out for Luke.

"Um, listen," she said, coming over. "About Rory doing this tutoring thing..."

"I really appreciate it, by the way," he said.

"I know you do," she reassured him. "Just...Rory's so sweet and she would never say no to anybody 'cause she loves to help. I'm not so sure if it's the best idea."

Luke looked at her, confused. "Why not?"

"Well, she's got her own studies to worry about."

"I know, and I promise this isn't gonna take up all of her time," he reassured her. "It's just for a little while."

"Yes, but..." she tried to input, but Luke continued.

"Plus, Rory's pretty serious about school. I don't think she wouldn't say yes if she didn't have the time."

"I know Rory's a great student, but she's just a kid. Don't you need like a professional tutor to help with Jess? Somebody with a degree and a pipe and one of those coats with the elbow patches on it?"

"I need someone Jess is gonna listen to. Someone he's gonna..." Luke paused, trying to search his head for the right words. "I don't know...look up to. That sure isn't me, and that sure isn't some tutor. He likes Rory, and Rory's on the path I'd like to see Jess on, school and college. He needs somebody he respects, doing what he should be doing, and Rory's the only person I can think of who fits that description."

"Yeah, but you don't know for sure if he'll listen to Rory," Lorelai pointed out with a shrug.

"No, but I gotta do something. I mean, what would you do if you were me?"

"Uh," she looked away in thought before giving in. "Okay, just make sure it's not too much time, okay?"

Luke looked away at the ground. He glanced up at her, assuring he will. "Besides, if a six-year-old has power over him, Rory should be able to convince him, right?"

"Right," she replied, but didn't sound one hundred percent sure.

Turning around, he noticed Shelby had taken to playing some sort of fighting game, which she told him she was Wonder Woman fighting bad guys when he asked. It was something he knew was a childhood favorite of Rachel's, whom she shared with the kid while Shelby was staying with her. The kid had been so thrilled to learn there was a female superhero and was reading through the old comic books Rachel collected as a kid. Now, whenever Shelby played superheroes with her friends, she always chose to be Wonder Woman.